
Queen Jane, Approximately
This is how I get to work everyday. Its a New Jersey Transit service. New Jersey Transit is the 2nd or 3rd largest passenger railway in the United States. It is not all one thing though. NJT is comprised of a whole bunch rail lines covering 533 miles in three states and mostly using vastly different train equipment. This little subdivision I ride, called the RiverLine, is about 15 years old. It is cheap and it runs on time. It covers a 40 mile route and hits all its stops on the exact minute it is due to hit them. It is never one single minute late. So what’s my complaint (besides dealing with the unemployed drug addicted clientele)?
Just this little thing. The operators refuse to verbally commit to being on time. The station announcement recites that ……’The 7:02 to Trenton will be departing in approximately five minutes”. In reality it will be departing in exactly five minutes but these state employees cannot bring themselves to use that word “exactly.” This is 2017 we are all so relaxed about life. We take it easy, we caution each other “don’t work too hard.” We pause and jive and socialize at every encounter. We don’t sweat it. We work in Margaritaville.
It wasn’t always like this. America used to hustle and be proud of being on time and under budget. Mail bags used to be snagged off of clotheslines by trains doing 90 mph. There was nothing approximate about anything regarding a train schedule in 1958. American cops used to investigate even minor thefts. American gas station attendants in white uniforms and green bow ties used to check your oil and polish your windshield. American men used to pour into factories exactly at 7 AM and out at 4 PM exactly. To coin a phrase, America Was Exactly Great.
America is Approximately Great Now. Inventions and enlightenment have made life 100 times better than it was 40 years ago but it is also 100 times worse. Isn’t it reasonable for us to work on our weaknesses while we enjoy the miracles of the 21st century? Let’s start with this army of lazy-ass, chronically bored public employees who count the days to retirement while they idle away their short shifts between long weekends by not working too hard. They won’t bend down to pick up a candy wrapper in the street because it is somebody else’s job and they certainly won’t rush any aspect of their own job. All they do is take it easy, promise the public nothing and plot to eventually sue the taxpayers in order to “cash-out” the first chance they get.
